Consentimiento informado en Oncología. Reflexiones sobre su aspecto ético

Understanding the ethical nature of informed consent enhances the quality of care, improves the physician-patient relationship, and clinical practice, especially in Oncology.

To appreciate patients as individuals and respect their essence as a unique living being endowed with intelligence and free will, a fact that gives them dignity, is essential to this process. This entails responsibilities for both the doctor and the patient in a respectful partnership based on confidence, which has the informed consent as one of its highlights, understood as the free acceptance of a patient to decide about a therapeutic or diagnostic procedure, after being informed of it by the physician. This goes beyond recognising patient freedom to accept medical treatment, and is a giant step in the evolution of the relationship between them that transcends and surpasses old visions.

This review is about historical and legal aspects, and a reflection about why and how to perform this part of the clinical process as a continuous dialogue between physician and patient, which is definitely an art that must be cultivated and contributes to the ethics of the informed consent within the special challenges of Oncology.